"LAWFUL EVENTS"

I literally ran through the halls of my high school this past week. They say there is no such thing as time traveling, but when I traveled through the halls of my junior high and visited my old locker -- let me tell you, it felt like I was 14 again and life never felt better.



"POINT OF VIEW"


The Da Vinci Code
Starring Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen
Written by Akiva Goldsman and Directed by Ron Howard


Do you remember those puzzle/coloring books you used to waste away those lazy afternoons with? Well, The Da Vinci Code is kind of like one of those books. Adapted from the immensely popular bestselling book from Dan Brown, comes a lengthy but quite entertaining piece of work. That is if you are interested in the subject matter. Back to those puzzle/coloring books -- if you were a kid that hated doing puzzles and coloring and preferred playing with GI Joes instead -- then The Da Vinci Code probably won’t be that appealing to you either.

The superfilmmaking team of Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind) and Brian Grazer (also A Beautiful Mind) bring us this entertaining thriller that has been getting its fair share of bad reviews and yells of blasphemy. Calm down -- that is what I say. It is a movie. A form of entertainment. People are more intelligent than given credit for and are able to form their own decisions on things. The movie will not threaten the state of religion and it will not brainwash anybody into doing anything they don’t want to. What it will do is raise discussion about the origins of Jesus Christ and provide the audience with one hell (excuse the phrasing) of a thriller. Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump) is wonderful as the long-haired American symbologist, Robert Langdon and Audrey Tautou (Amelie) is equally as entertaining as Sophie Neveu, a French cryptologist and granddaughter of a murdered curator of the Louvre, who obviously had a secret he was willing to die for. Together they both outrun the police and the likes of an extremely creepy monk named Silas, played by Paul Bettany (totally fits the rumors that he will be the Joker in the next Batman film) who belongs to a religious society known as Opus Dei (think of priests with knives, willing to kill for the big guy in the sky) all the while trying to figure out what the big secret is that so much blood has spilled to hide.

Considering that The Da Vinci Code is a book with a lot of references to points in history and religion, you can pretty much expect some heavy exposition -- but Ron Howard did an excellent job with this. With the help of some nifty special effects and his talented cast, what could have been a very boring movie is actually quite intriguing (Again, please note that if you hated history or going to church on Sundays, chances are you will still hate it now). Sir Ian McKellen is awesome as Sir Leigh Teabing and once again steals another iconic character to be his own (McKellen is also Magneto in the X-Men films and Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings franchise -- nerds rejoice). Alfred Molina and Jean Reno also lend their familiar faces to the mix, grounding the movie and giving it another wonderful layer.

If you are still a little borderline about seeing The Da Vinci Code based on your worries that it may be a little “wordy” -- I can assure you it also has its fair share of crash-bang car chases, jump-out-of-your-seat shocks, and plenty of blood and gunfire to satisfy even the most cynical critic.

As you would expect from a film titled The Da Vinci Code, the film is filled with plenty of mystery and plenty of twists. It is fun. It really is. Check it out -- try and solve the mystery with Robert Langdon or just sit back and watch it all unfold -- regardless, just go see it. If your brain goes numb, at least it will be from the intelligence of the film and not its stupidity -- like so many other summer films out right now.


THE RUNDOWN:

The Good: It is geek, but oh-so chic.

The Bad: Be prepared for some history class moments.

The Law: Read the book, watch the movie, and use your brain at the theater for once. See The Da Vinci Code!